Day 18 – Weatherford to Purcell

Our first full day in Oklahoma sees us travel from Weatherford to Purcell, a distance of approx 112 miles. For the first part of the day we continued along Route 66 , passing the original Lucille’s (our diner last night was at a copy carrying the same name).

The Original Lucille's Roadhouse

Not long after leaving Route 66 we passed a buffalo ranch. These creatures are truly awesome with their big heads and thick manes, however we didn’t get close enough to get real good pictures.

Buffalo herd in the distance

As the day progressed it got hotter and hotter and the humidity also increased making it quite sticky. The terrain also changed as we moved into the repettitive short hills or “rollers” as the locals call them. There is a technique for riding these. First select a high gear on the descent and then at the right time push this gear to power you up and over the next rise. It works but after repeating the process many times in the heat it became very tiring.

The start of the "rollers"

By the time we finished for the day the temperature was well up into the nineties and with the humidity this was very draining. Fortunately we had a saviour in the form of the secret Red Cross Cooler kept in the lunch van.

The "secret red cross cooler" - containing pooled beer supplies!!

The importance of the secret cooler became even more obvious when we stopped in our first dry counties. Yes, in this day and age there are still some counties in this part of the world where you cannot buy beer. If you don’t have your own supply you go without!

In restaurants for evening meals you usually get a choice of various sodas/pops, iced tea, milk or coffee. I usually had milk as its high protein content is good for recovery.